27.1.25 Luke 4:38-44

27 January

Prepare

Heavenly Father,

We come before You with humble hearts, knowing that You are holy and good. We bring our praise and our burdens, trusting in Your mercy and grace. Help us to draw close to You, to hear Your voice, and to rest in Your presence. Teach us Your ways and guide our hearts as we spend time with You. 

Take a moment to be still, to humble ourselves to our heavenly Father.

Read Luke 4:38-44

Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!”

But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.

But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Reflection

I love company and being with people, but it gets to a point when I have had enough and want my own space. Christmas is a perfect example of this, when all of the festivities and socialising become too much, and I head to a quiet room for solitude and a cup of Yorkshire tea!

In today’s passage we see Jesus is working hard and people wanting his attention. He is doing his mission, but even Jesus can’t sustain the demands being put on him.  So, what does he do? 

‘… Jesus went out to a solitary place.’

He went somewhere quiet and away from everyone. He sought some downtime. 

We need to simply our lives and de-clutter our hearts. We need to be with Jesus and take him seriously. We can so easily live in a hurried, distracted world, and it is essential we follow Jesus’ model of intentional time in the quiet to be alone with the Father. We want to be emotionally alive and spiritually awake. Jesus paused to spend time with his Father and we also need to grow in our intimacy with him and rest in his presence.  

As it says in John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  

Be

Slowing my breathe and relinquishing my worries. I open my hands to pray….

Come Holy Spirit to my mind, I receive your comfort and your rest.

Come Holy Spirit to my heart, I receive your peace.

Come Holy Spirit to my soul, I receive the Father’s love for me.

Become

Imagine a time when you have been in a place of stillness and quiet. This might be in your favourite chair with your slippers on at home or lying on a sun kissed beach with nothing by the waves in the background. How are you feeling? 

Now imagine that same scene but also allowing God to be with you in that moment.

How might that feel?

Do

Do you make time to be still in your day? Is the Sabbath a time of rest and an opportunity to to stop.

Please Lord, enable me to make time to be still and stop. Help me to find solitude in my day to get closer to you.

Practice

After this time of devotion or later today give yourself 5 to 10 minutes to just stop. 

Be quiet, put away any screens or distractions and breathe deeply and rest.